AGM approves all proposals
sia Abrasives got off to a flying start in the current business year: for the first four months of 2003, consolidated sales in local currencies were up by 8.2% compared with the same period last year. Orders on hand at the end of April 2003 were some 11% higher than year-back levels. The General Meeting of Shareholders approved all the Board’s proposals.
At the Annual General Meeting of sia Abrasives Holding AG, CEO and Executive Director Peter A. Schifferle confirmed the gratifying development that is being experienced in this current business year. During the opening four months of 2003, currency-neutral consolidated sales were up by 8.2% over the comparable period last year. In Swiss franc terms, sales increased by only some 5%. The volume of orders on hand at the end of April 2003 was some 11% higher than the year-back level. A major contribution to this growth in sales was made by the acquisitions of Weck Schleifmittel GmbH (July 2002) and sia CAPCO (beginning of 2003), which helped open up new markets and broaden the customer base. In addition to this, low inventories throughout the entire distribution chain sparked off a spate of orders. The Group Management continues to view prospects for the current business year with cautious optimism. Despite the slowdown in global economic growth, sia Abrasives anticipates that sales adjusted for exchange rates will increase by between 6% and 10% over the year as a whole.
Unchanged dividend293 shareholders attended the 24th Annual General Meeting of sia Abrasives Holding AG at the Stadtcasino in Frauenfeld on 7 May 2003. These represented 342,546 votes or 47.6 percent of the total of the voting capital stock. The General Meeting approved all the proposals placed before it by the Board of Directors and granted formal discharge for the 2002 business year to both the Board and the General Management. Shareholders will receive an unchanged dividend of CHF 6.75 per registered share. The General Meeting approved the annual report, the financial statements and Group accounts for 2002. Peter A. Schifferle was reelected to the Board of Directors for another three-year period. PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Winterthur, will serve for a further year as both company and Group auditors.
For further information
Peter A. Schifferle, CEO
Gerhard Mahrle, CFO
Phone: +41 52 724 45 75
Fax: +41 52 724 45 70
E-mail: ir@sia-abrasives.com
Internet: http://www.sia-abrasives.com/
® Correct nomenclature for sia Abrasives Holding AG
As there are other companies and organizations that use the same abbreviation as our company, we would be grateful if you could help to avoid any misunderstandings by always writing our name as follows: sia Abrasives (never just sia by itself). |
